PORT ST. LUCIE — The rotation-beleaguered Mets are making their push for a playoff berth, and Steven Matz was throwing off flat ground Tuesday here at Tradition Field.

And where was the silver lining in all of that?

Well, Matz was heading back to New York after insisting his left shoulder and elbow felt fine. If all goes well with a bullpen session Wednesday under the supervision of pitching coach Dan Warthen, plus subsequent medical evaluations, Matz could pitch Friday for the Mets.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not,” said Matz, who threw on flat ground then did fielding drills for about a half hour, on a field removed from Day Two of Tebowmania. “We’re just going to evaluate, and whatever [manager] Terry [Collins] says, whatever the training staff comes to an agreement on, then we’ll just hit the ground running from there.”

Collins was a bit more cautious, saying it has not been decided who will start Friday.

“The report I got two days ago was when he threw his side [on Monday], he really felt his secondary pitches needed to be refined, and that’s why we want him to have it here,” Collins said at Citi Field. “We want Dan to watch him, make sure if there’s something that needs to be tweaked, it’s tweaked. Can he start on Friday? Probably.”

According to Collins, due to Matz’s rust and the short turnaround between the bullpen session and a potential Friday start, the young lefty would be limited to 50 pitches. If Matz starts, Collins said rookie Gabriel Ynoa would be ready as the second guy in.

“We have to determine if that’s going to be good enough to run him out for 50 pitches, what does it do to the rest of the staff, where does it put us,” Collins said. “We got to win games. This isn’t about getting guys ready anymore. We got to win games.

“If we think, hey, look, he’s the guy, we’ll start him, get him to a point and have somebody ready. It’s about making sure we run the right guys out there to win the game.”

Matz (9.8, 3.40 ERA) last pitched Aug. 14, and went on the disabled list Aug. 23 because of a left shoulder impingement. Matz also had been dealing with a bone spur in his elbow.

“The doctor said that it can’t cause any further damage, so I feel pretty confident in that I was able to do it the past few months,” Matz said of the elbow. “It’s not really in the back of my mind at this point. We’re in a pennant race, so I’m just going to have my main focus on that.”

Asked if he felt discomfort in the shoulder, Matz simply said: “No.”

Matz knows the drill. He did rehab work in Florida last year before rejoining the Mets late in the season.

“I’ve done the circuit a lot,” he said. “You know you’re going to face adversity in this game. That’s what it is. I’ve just got to keep my focus and try to get back.”

Matz, 25, is just one casualty among the Mets starters. Matt Harvey was felled by surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. Zack Wheeler never made it back this season from surgery. Jacob deGrom has been shut down for season-ending surgery on an ulnar nerve issue in his right elbow. Noah Syndergaard had bone spur issues, but remains at the front of the rotation followed by Bartolo Colon and rookies Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo and Ynoa.

Yeah, Matz would be nice, even if he faces low pitch counts in his comeback starts and remains a “long shot” for the playoff rotation, as Collins said Monday.

“I’m feeling good,” said Matz, who said he feels no added pressure from the rotation injuries. “The team’s playing great up there right now. I’m just going to go up there and try to help them as best I could.

“I haven’t thrown in a game in over a month now, so just try to get everything going again. You don’t want to be surprised out there and feel like it’s spring training.”

Matz could be forgiven if he mistook this week for spring training with the Tebow sideshow.

“Nice guy,” Matz said. “He’s a hard worker and he’s just another player. You can tell that’s all he wants to be and he’s just in here to work hard, see if he can make the big leagues. … He’s just another one of the guys in everyone’s mind, so I didn’t notice anything too crazy.”